Castles in the Sky
is a historical drama (based on a true story) which premiered on British
television (BBC) in 2014.
This is the true story
of how the British scientist Robert Watson-Watt and a team of other British
scientists managed to develop a functioning radar system in the years up to
the beginning of World War II.
Here is some basic
information about this drama:
** Director:
Gilles MacKinnon
** Writer: Ian
Kershaw
** Released on DVD in 2014
** Run time: 90
minutes
The cast includes
the following:
** Eddie Izzard as
Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973) – leader of the team that developed
radar in Britain
** Laura Fraser as
his wife Margaret Watson-Watt
** Alex Jennings as
Henry Tizard (1885-1959) – a chemist and chairman of the committee on
aerial defence
** Tim McInnerny as
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) – a prominent British politician and later
prime minister
** David Hayman as
Frederick Lindemann (1886-1957) – a British scientist of German origin
and a close friend of Winston Churchill
** Julian
Rhind-Thott as Albert Percival Rowe (1898-1976) - a scientist and a member
of the team
** Karl Davies as
Arnold “Skip” Wilkins (1907-1985) – a scientist and a member of the team
** Celyn Jones as
Edward George “Taffy” Bowen (1911-1991) – a scientist and a member of
the team
I do not wish to
spoil the viewing for anyone, but I have to mention a few basic facts in order
to explain and justify my rating.
The plot
This drama follows
the life and career of Robert Watson-Watt over five years (1935-1940). He is a
family man, but he offers to work for the government in order to develop an
early detection system (known as radar).
The word “radar” is
not used in this drama, because it was coined by the US Navy in 1940.
When his offer is
accepted, he assembles a team of scientists who work together on the secret
project.
The team faces two
problems:
The first problem is
economic. They must secure funding for their ideas. They have to prove that
their efforts are helpful.
The second problem
is scientific. They have to develop a system that can detect enemy airplanes at
a long distance, so British pilots have time to get into the air and meet the
enemy before he strikes a British target.
In the beginning,
they had only one station, later they had five stations, and when the Battle of
Britain began in 1940, they had a network of multiple stations that covered the
southern and eastern coast of England and Scotland.
Thanks to this
early warning system, the British won the Battle of Britain, even though the
German Luftwaffe had three times as many aircraft as the British.
The Battle of
Britain lasted for three months and three weeks: from 10 July to 31 October
1940.
Watson-Watt’s work
for the government put a strain on his marriage. His wife decided to leave him,
because she could not accept that he was absent from the family so often and so
long.
The flaws
This historical drama
covers an important chapter in the history of the twentieth century and in the
history of technological development.
The movie-makers want
to show us a scientific process; from an idea to a practical application,
through trial and error, from failure to success.
If we look at the drama
as an isolated episode, it works quite well. But things change a great deal, if
we consider the real historical facts.
While the drama is
based on a true story, we cannot say that the level of historical accuracy is
high. In fact, there are several flaws. Let me explain:
# 1. When we are watching
the drama, we get the impression that Watson-Watt and his team are just
weathermen, hopeless fools, who know little or nothing about hard science.
This
is not true.
Watson-Watt and the members of his team were real scholars, real
scientists, and they knew what they were doing.
Here is one
example:
Edward George
“Taffy” Bowen later played a key role in the design of the radio telescope at
Parkes, New South Wales, Australia, which was used to relay the first images of
man on the moon in 1969.
[This case is dramatized in the movie The Dish which premiered in the year 2000; it was released
on DVD in 2001.]
# 2. When we are watching
the drama, we get the impression that Robert Watson-Watt and his team of scientists invented radar.
This is not true.
The idea of using
radio waves can be traced back to the German scientist Christian Hülsmeyer (1881-1957),
who developed a system that allowed him to detect a ship in dense fog. His
system was patented in 1904.
Amazingly, the
German army was not impressed with what they saw and did not want to support
his work. They failed to see the perspectives of his work.
During the 1920s
and the 1930s, all major powers conducted research into some kind of radar
system, but the research was top secret, so scientists in one country knew
little or nothing about the work done in other countries.
Today we know that
scientists studied and tried to develop a radar system in several countries, including the UK, the US, France, Germany and the USSR.
# 3. When we are watching
the drama, we get the impression that the British radar system developed by Robert Watson-Watt
and his team was excellent.
This is not true.
The British
system, known as Chain Home, was ready by 1939; it was based on land, but it
could only work over the sea; and it demanded huge stations.
The German system,
known as Freya, was ready by 1938; it could be based on a ship; it could be
used over land as well as over the sea; and the stations were not very large.
In short, the German system was more advanced than the British.
Chain Home was
based on existing technology. Robert Watson-Watt and his team did not aim for
perfection. His argument ran something like this:
“I want a good
system that can be ready on time. I do not want a better system that will be available
too late or never come at all.”
# 4. In the drama,
the chronology of the development of the radar system is not clear. The only
time a date is mentioned is at the end of the drama where an on-screen message
says:
9th July 1940
The eve of the Battle of Britain
Here is a proper
chronology:
1935 – The team
begins the work
1936 – Five
stations are ready
1939 – A full
system of multiple stations is ready
1940 – The system
proves its value during the Battle of Britain
The drama implies the
full system was not ready until the very last moment, on 9 July 1940, which is the
day before the Battle of Britain began. In fact, the full system was ready
before the war broke out in September 1939.
# 5. The locations
used are wrong. The first experiments were done at Orford Ness, a long
peninsula in Suffolk. But these scenes are shot on Dunbar Beach and Hedderwick
Sands.
Later experiments
were done at Bowdsea Manor, also located in Suffolk. But these scenes are shot
at Arniston House and Gosford House.
# 6. Even minor
details are wrong. As stated above, the time frame of the film is 1935-1940,
but the movie-makers do not always seem to remember this.
They show us a
television set from 1946 and an ambulance from 1952!
# 7. There are
also problems with some of the actors.
As stated above, Frederick Lindemann was
of German origin. He had a German accent, but in this drama, he speaks perfect
English.
The actor Tim
McInnerny tries hard to sound like Churchill and while he does perhaps succeed
on this front, he does not look like Churchill at all.
Reviews and ratings
What do reviewers
say about this drama?
Here are some answers:
54 percent =
Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
67 percent =
Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
68 percent = IMDb
On Amazon there
are at the moment more than 350 ratings of this product, including 125 with a review.
The average rating
is 4.6 stars, which corresponds to a rating of 82 percent
Conclusion
I cannot look at
this drama as an isolated episode. I have to consider the true historical facts.
This drama is
produced in collaboration with the Open University. This is why I expect the movie-makers to strive for historical accuracy in every area where it
is possible. Unfortunately, they did not do this.
I wanted to like
this drama. I am sure the movie-makers have good intentions, but good
intentions do not guarantee a good result. I think the actors do their best,
but sometimes doing your best is not good enough.
This topic is interesting and important,
but this drama has some serious flaws. When you are watching it, you must remember
that the movie-makers play fast and loose with the historical truth.
While it is based
on a true story, not everything we see and hear in the drama is true. Not
everything happened the way it is presented in the drama.
I have to remove
two stars because of the flaws. I think it deserves a rating of three stars (60
percent).
REFERENCES
# 1. Books
Radar: A Wartime Miracle
by Colin Latham
& Ann Stobbs
(1997)
Radar: Britain’s
Shield and the Defeat of the Luftwaffe
by David Zimmerman
(2001)
Radar Origins
Worldwide
by R. C. Watson
(2009)
Building Radar
by Colin Dobson
(2010)
Spies in the Sky
by Taylor Downing
(2012)
Most Secret: The
Hidden History of Orford Ness
by Paddy Heazell
(2013)
# 2. Film and
video
Battle of Britain:
The Race for Radar
This documentary
film premiered in 2020
** Writer and
director = Brian Marshall
** Run time = 45
minutes
** Rating on IMDb =
70 percent
*****
The British scientist
Robert Watson-Watt
(1892-1973)
*****
Battle of Britain:
The Race for Radar
This documentary film premiered in
2020
*****
